1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sterilization case for surgical instruments and, more specifically, to a steam-autoclavable sterilization case for arthroscopic surgical shaver blades with built-in counters for recording and tracking the usage of the shaver blades stored therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical instruments require sterilization prior to use. Sterilization procedures are carried out in various ways, including both chemical treatment and heat sterilization, typically steam autoclaving. Surgical instruments often are placed in specialized trays for sterilization purposes. Trays are used as well to provide instrument accessibility to the surgeon in the operational theater.
Surgical instruments used for cutting and shaving must be maintained with an extremely sharp cutting edge. After each use, shaver edges loose a certain degree of sharpness. Thus, shaver instruments become unusable after a given number of operations because it is not feasible to resharpen the blades. These instruments, therefore, have limited useful lives, the duration of which must be tracked in order to avoid use of worn out blades, which can be dangerous to the patient.
Disinfection containers for use in steam autoclaving and chemical sterilization are known. Chemical sterilization containers have been developed which display and record periods of time, such as the number of days required for completion of certain steps in the chemical disinfection process. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,187 to Monche. However, such devices are not equipped to display and record the remaining useful life of the instruments they contain.
Devices also are known in the prior art which record the number of uses of a razor blade, such as a safety razor. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,077 to Henkel and U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,563 to Singer. These devices, designed for home use by the consumer, are incapable of withstanding the rigors of steam autoclaving, and are not designed for aseptic storage and handling of precision surgical instruments.